'I'm not terribly fast at my times tables'

"The notion that autism is caused by higher rainfall is manifestly absurd."

London doctor Michael Fitzpatrick on a study in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine linking rainfall to the development of autism (BBC Online, 4 November)

"I'm not terribly fast at my times tables."

Marcus du Sautoy, professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford, who this week succeeded Richard Dawkins as holder of the university's chair in the public understanding of science (The Guardian, London, 3 November)

"I have never seen this kind of an increase in the number of applications with eggs, sperm donors or surrogates."